IN YOUR OPINION

Letters to the Editor for May 10, 2013

Published: Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 10:05 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 10:05 p.m.

I think the morning-after pill being able to be bought by 15-year-olds without parental consent is opening Pandora's box. It is a clear signal for a young girl to have sex as often as she wants.

Young teens are just not mentally grown up, and they do not realize the consequences of their actions. They open themselves up to diseases that will have an effect on their future.

I may be old-fashioned, but parents need to teach their own children about the risks and moral issues involved, and the government has no business making morning-after pills available over the counter. I'm not suggesting the morning-after pill isn't a good thing, but it needs to be purchased behind the pharmacy counter and with a prescription or a parent's approval.

Patricia Frances

Ocala

A proud American

I was standing on the deck of a home overlooking the airport in Costa Rica with some friends when President Barack Obama's plane cleared the green mountains and started its descent. We passed the binoculars around. My wife and I were the only Americans in the group. Our Costa Rican friends remembered the president's arrival and ushered us all out on to the deck.

As Air Force One touched down, the Costa Ricans in the group cheered, and we of course joined in. They were clearly excited that the U.S. president was visiting their country. I realized that I had never been in a foreign country when the president arrived.

We take presidential trips for granted in the U.S. But as I watched those people on the deck, cheering the president, and as I later watched the people greet him at the airport, I realized the impact that a U.S. president has on the minds and hearts of people around the world. It was a proud moment for all Americans here, I am sure.

Ralph Ranieri

Ocala

Common-sense decision

The Marion County School Board just voted to bring back paddling in our schools. That was part of the discipline when I attended school. If your parents found out, you got paddled at home.

Now, I don't understand why you parents are jumping up and down about the School Board's decision. If your child follows all of the rules, doesn't cause harm to other students and respects the faculty, common sense should tell you your child won't get paddled.

As an adult, if you were, let's say, to rob a bank, you would likely go to jail. So, common sense should tell you something!

So calm down and support the School Board's decision. It may just pay dividends in the future.

James Bowden

Belleview

Scott's war on men

Regarding the Star-Banner article, "Who won, who lost in the 2013 Legislature" (May 4), yet again Florida's governor lies to the citizens and continues his war on men. His veto letter implicitly lies by suggesting that a half-century of family law and family court practice has been a level playing field where both men and women have been treated equally, fairly, and that when men signed permanent alimony agreements they did so of their own free will and free of any duress.

Anyone familiar with family court practice knows that this lie is as bald faced as Gov. Rick Scott himself.

Scott also wrote, "Current Florida law already provides for the adjustment of alimony under the proper circumstances." Were one to fact-check this direct quote from his veto letter, one would obtain a score of zero out of 100. Permanent alimony — which Scott favors — really is permanent and ends only with the death of one spouse. It is virtually impossible to modify permanent alimony, no matter if you have Alzheimer's disease or your income drops substantially or to zero. Pay or Gov. Scott will send a man (but never a woman) to debtor's prison.

Scott is so desperate to get the women's vote that he is willing to wage a war on men and prey on men who already have been preyed upon by an unjust family court system.

If his wife divorces him and takes him for every penny he's got, perhaps then, and only then, will he understand that family law — which he so fervently embraces — really is a war on men.

Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D.

Miami

Unbecoming

My response to the May 8 letter, "A teacher's reward," is that it is shameful for a teacher who has received several awards during her tenure to equate a letter of recognition from the Florida Department of Education as one of the Most Outstanding Secondary Science Teachers in Florida to a monetary reward received by her husband for selling potato chips.

My suggestion is to quit your job and sell potato chips.

James Cochran

Dunnellon

It's satire, folks

The writer of the letter "Insensitive" (May 5) just does not understand satire. The person who wrote the satirical letter about the pressure cooker ban was right on — a truly sensitive and thinking person.

I read the original letter. It was a very good letter. I would like the person who wrote the original letter to know that there are people reading and appreciating their letters.

Richard Minzenberger

Ocala

Announcement or attack?

Thank you for printing the announcement of the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner set for May 11 at the Hilton.

While we appreciate the publicity, was it really necessary to waste two-thirds of the article on a political attack? That sort of thing doesn't appear in any of your other announcements.

Don Goodman

Ocala

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